"Trigger Warning", "Don't Like, Don't Read" "# Comments or I Won't Update" - Comments

@ ptvjaime
Well considering my opinion on this isn't changing, there's nothing more you can say.

Mibba is online, Mibba does not equal online. Head on over to FF.Net where you can receive gratuitous e-mails telling you to kill yourself and nothing happens. No matter how it's explained, you don't appear to be getting it. The reason we use trigger warnings for subjects, i.e. self-harm, rape, sexual abuse, and the like is because it can arouse trauma in someone. By telling them it's coming, they can avoid it. There are warning labels on a lot of things, from movies to CDs to books. Media and literature, as it were, which is what a story is. Giving someone a chance to walk away is what a warning is used for. And like I said, you aren't hurt by putting one. Someone could read something that they didn't see coming and be damaged by it. I get the whole, let's not take responsibility for what might happen because it's literature and it's not our problem, but a little warning for some people could save them some suffering. Suffering, not just shuddering.

@ ptvjaime
Real life rules do apply on Mibba, believe it or not. Those rules don't just disappear as you go online.

Well you telling me all this won't change anything, especially how you go about it. What can be justified, them blaming me? They didn't have to go online, they didn't have to read my story.

Double post because character limit. It is not going to physically or psychologically wound you to type a trigger warning, but a lack of one could cause someone to descend back into physical or psychological damage. You can go around merrily writing all the triggers you want, and you don't have to not write them, but if someone stumbles into your story not knowing what to expect because you didn't tell them and they were upset, it can be justified.

No it's not. It's not saying anything like that. It's saying it would be nice if you took a few seconds to say, hey there's graphic depictions of rape, self-harm, or sexual abuse. Or something to that effect. This isn't real life. This is Mibba and real life rules do not apply here. In RL, I could call you anything I wanted and get away with it. I can't here. On top of that, it takes seconds. And hints don't always lead to graphic portrayals of something later down the line. Plus, there's always the definition of hint anyway. What you think is a good hint might be too subtle for some and then BAM violent rape and the reader didn't see it coming. Trigger warnings are simple to understand. Hinting and foreshadowing is not always that simple to understand. You can't just assume everyone gets your style.

@ little motorkitty;
The thing is, I don't think of the internet as that and I never really have. I'm sorry if my views of some things conflict yours but I'm not sure they're going to change. I've never thought of that, therefore I never had a need to respect it, it's never been on my mind. I say again I don't think I can be held responsible for someone else's feelings about something, I can't be at fault for that because that's kind of saying something along the lines of me not writing what I write.

@ Stag
When else in real life would I need to be warned about rape or abuse or self-harm? If someone starts talking to me about it, I can ask them not to and voila I won't be triggered. And if there's no warnings in real life isn't that just an even better reason to warn about it online? People consider the internet a safe-place and I think it's important to respect that.

@ little motorkitty;
I'm not speaking about in media.
I know I don't have the whole definition of trigger exactly right after these comments but my opinion is still the same (even if it's pretty invalid at this point if we're thinking of different things).

By all means, suggest it to Mibba here but I still have the thought that things will be "triggering" throughout life and I don't think outside of the media, people warn you or anything like that.

To be honest I have a bit of a problem with your logic concerning trigger warnings. There are trigger warnings in real life. In movies they put warnings in for sexual violence, same with television shows. You know, all those 'viewer discretion advised' adverts before shows which might contain triggering content. I've never seen adverts use rape scenes or self-harm graphically enough to need a trigger warning, but I have read stories graphic enough to need them. I think, to be honest, you're not understanding the difference between someone getting upset and someone being genuinely triggered and I see that a lot online and it really bothers me. It's not about you controlling how the reader feels and yes some people might still read it but then it's their choice. A story may hint at rape/self-harm/abuse and someone like myself might be fine with it and they may think that's prepared a reader for a graphic scene but it hasn't.

Being triggered by something like self-harm/rape/abuse can lead to relapses, meaning someone could suffer a panic attack or physically harm themselves. While I don't think that's the authors fault, I do think it can be avoided by taking two seconds out of your time to write a trigger warning. To be honest, I'd quite like it if Mibba made it necessary for them. I can see why people who don't get triggered would disagree, but there are people out there like myself who suffer from mental disorders such as PTSD and living with it is hard enough without people saying trigger warnings (which help me a LOT online) aren't needed.

@ xiuminnie.
Yes, that is exactly what'll happen. rofl.

i shall marry you & we will both rule the world with a bucket of kitties & puppies

lmao.

@ xiuminnie.
You and me both. i wish, tbh

Of course it is~


You'd be the first to do so, rofl. Plus, who doesn't love creeps?

sassy is my middle name.

is that a gif of us hugging? i'm so flattered, i can't rn

like, you're virtually wanting to touch me. this is amazing.

ignore the creep factor. i admire you from afar

@ arctic monkeys.
I really just find the "don't like don't read" and holding comments hostage really immature.

I understand what you're saying. Still I believe though the reader shouldn't place the full blame on the author for them becoming unsettled. You can always go back.

@ xMandiblesx
Rofl~

@ sobre mi cadaver
I understand, but I mean it's the net. There are triggering things all over, in ads, in videos, everywhere and I just don't think that I can be responsible for someone else's thoughts and feelings. I don't know, I feel really guilty thinking that and I honestly do feel like a bad person (maybe it's selfish of me) but still, I just think that it may help but even with the warning, someone might get upset about something else.

@ Louise Belcher
I never thought of it that way but I guess it does sort of give away the story/plot.

/backspace

@ xiuminnie.
Aha, thank you.

Exactly, it's not like anyone's going to think badly about anyone for disliking a story that made them uncomfortable, it's just a matter of handling it and your feelings.

sassy. I kind of just test the writer by not commenting, it's kind of like, "are you seriously gonna go through with this?"

Oh gosh, no you're perf.

this. i absolutely love this.

the trigger warnings really get under my skin. as a former cutter & what not...i understand that certain things may bring back something that was better left hidden, but i agree with you. irl, there isn't anything of that sort. it just takes strength for people to move on despite what they have gone through & on mibba? a story site? anything & everything is welcome. if it makes you uncomfortable, no one is holding it against you. really, this community is so open that when people rant about how a certain story//poem or whatever made them want to cut or bring up their past or made them severely depressed...it's like...you can't blame the author...really, you can't.

i think the second point you've made on don't like, don't read is perfect. when people put that in their summary, i feel like it's so disrespectful to the reader. i invite all opinions & even more so constructive criticism. when an author puts something like that, it's like they don't care who they please, how they write, who comments and who doesn't. & then we have the people who bold "comment or i won't update!" in their authors note & i get that nasty attitude of "well, that's why i'm a silent reader & i didn't want you to update anyone"

like for crying out loud, write for yourself. other people approving your work doesn't get you anywhere, tbh.

+ that gif at the end of your blog is perfect like you

I read exclusively on ao3 for the most part and they have trigger warnings to the max and by someone who doesn't get triggered, it's annoying. Because it can just... Totally give away the story if they're easing into the subject and you can GUESS but now there's nothing to guess because you know what's going to happen. However someone who would get triggered by self harm or an ED I can see why they're necessary to some degree. If I were a person who does gets triggered I would appreciate it. But sometimes people just... Over do it.

I was scrolling through slash stories and 80% of them had "contains boyxboy, don't like, don't read!" and I just... I can't do it.

I agree with all except the trigger warnings. The Mibba population is mostly teenagers/adolescents and people barely on their twenties; these populations are the most likely (statistically speaking) to be suffering from an undiagnosed/or diagnosed mental illness, so, let's say I'm writing about suicide in a blunt manner without exploring the person trying to commit suicide, but just using suicide as a plot device, a person who has contemplated or attempted suicide or who has had a close person to them do so will be incredibly uncomfortable and it can trigger an anxious response and even a panic attack.

To me, this is what rape scenes does. I panic, start scratching myself all over, leaving marks all across my body and then I close the thing. A trigger warning could have helped me not clicking on that story. Of course, if it is in the summary, I don't mind, but if no mention of said scene (or others) are there, then there is no way that I could possibly know.

I mainly put them because I have actually seen how triggers work. One word, one smell, one noise can trigger a response and you don't necessarily have to be diagnosed with PTSD for that to happen; any person who has gone to any traumatic experience can experience the effects of a trigger. We had a client some time ago that was a heavy drug abuser; the doctor said the word "abuse" and he immediately entered into a panic attack; he began having flashbacks of his own sexual abuse. It is as easy as that.

It's all good. I totally respect your view on it. I also agree about the "so many comments before I'll update." To me that just seems like the author is only writing for the praise aspect and it's like they are making their story a hostage. I'm glad they made the stealing threats against the rules now too. Being threatened that someone is gonna hunt me down and beat me with a bat doesn't really compel me to read their story or even talk to them lol.

I completely agree with the 'don't like don't read' and '(insert number here) comments and I'll update!!!!!'. That makes me turn away from a story so fast — especially the latter one. It bugs me to no end.

With trigger warnings, I think there is a time and place. For subjects like rape and eating disorders, I do think they sometimes can serve a good purpose because those things are very triggering to some people who've experienced them/are dealing with them currently.

But at the same time, if the author doesn't use them and yet the reader is triggered by something in it, it's not the author's fault. I think it's the viewers discretion to be reading whatever it is, and the option to backspace from the page is.always there.

@ Rachel-Marie
I honestly just believe it depends.

As I said before, I give readers something of a glimpse of what might be in the story within the first few chapters instead of attacking it head on and if they feel uncomfortable going through the beginning, it's easy enough they could stop. I do get how even that little bit could be "triggering" but maybe then reading stories online shouldn't be for them because I don't feel trigger warnings are that important.